By Damon Darlin, New York Times

It should come as little surprise that Social Security numbers are posted on the Internet. But, says Betty Ostergren, a former insurance claims supervisor in suburban Richmond, Va., who has spent years trolling for them, “people are always astounded” to learn that theirs is one of them.

Mrs. Ostergren, 57, has made a name for herself as a gadfly as she took on a lonely and sometimes frustrating mission to draw attention to the situation. With addresses, dates of birth and maiden names often associated with Social Security numbers, she said, they are a gift to data thieves.

But in the last few weeks, Mrs. Ostergren’s Web site, The Virginia Watchdog — with the help of lobbying from an unexpected ally, America’s farm bureaus — is having an effect.

One by one, states and counties have started removing images of documents that contain Social Security numbers, or they are blocking out the numbers. Four states, including New York, have removed links to images of public documents containing Social Security numbers.

For the rest of this story visit: www.nytimes.com

STATS:
Name: Vergi Rodriguez, www.vergirodriguez.com
Job title: Choreographer, Dancer, Actress
In the field(s) of: Artist Development, Choreography, Entertainment
Originally from: Astoria, Queens
Motto to live by or 1 childhood lesson that stuck with you thru today: I have all of the answers I need within myself.  The only people I depend on is myself and God. I've learned that the "hard" way. My mother is also someone who I use as an example of how strong I have to be in order to persevere. She helps me see things clearly whenever I'm at a crossroads.

THE 5 Q'S:

Talk a little about what you do, who you've worked with and how you broke into choreographing music videos? I started my dance careeer in New York, dancing with local groups / artists and eventually started auditioning for different gigs. Through a referral of a friend I began to work with a Merengue hip hop group called Sandy & Papo MC. It was the first international tour that I worked on. Not only was I a dancer, but the choreographer as well. I learned a lot and was able to see the world doing what I loved. Soon after, I auditioned for the New Power Generation Dance Company which was formed by Prince. I booked it and within a week's time I had to leave and go live in Minnesota for two months because rehearsals were going to take place at Paisley Park. The legendary studios built in Minnesota by Prince. It was an opportunity for me to work with a legendary artist. Unfortunately, the tour was short lived and was cancelled while we made our stop in Los Angeles. I had to get on the grind again as I was now in Los Angeles. Since I had worked with some Los Angeles based choreographers in New York, I went to every audition I knew about and luckily they remembered me. With the few jobs I would get here and there I began to build my resume and eventually my credibility as a dancer.

I have worked as a dancer with Prince, Shaggy, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, P.Diddy, Jordan Knight, Missy Elliott, Jessica Simpson, B2K, Mario Winanas. Recently, I choreographed Don Omar's music video "Conte" which was featured on the "Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift" soundtrack. And L.D.A. feat. Zion & Lenoxx "Te Invitan Al Party" off of the Chosen Few: El Documenta Part II. I also choreographed for the movie "Soul Plane" & worked as assistant choreographer on the movie "Honey."

I've had the opportunity to work with some really amazing artist, but I am now focusing on working a lot more in the Latin music world again.

I guess if I had to give a "job description", it would be that I work with artist’s, not only for choreography purposes but to also to help them enhance their stage presence / performance skills. I am currently focusing on moving into more artist development.

A lot of my success has been by me hustling and staying focused on moving ahead to achieve my goals. I am gratefully blessed with a very supportive mother, who has guided me and provided me with an unending supply of moral support and unconditional love. She has been my mom, my cheerleader, my advisor and most of all, my best friend. 

What we're some of your greatest challenges breaking into the business? For me, some of the challenges that I came across were my own self-limiting beliefs. It was the times where I didn't think that I could actually "make it" or that I was "any good." Those were the times were I really found myself learning the most of how strong and thick skinned you have to be to maintain longevity and be successful in this business. 

What differentiates Vergi from the rest of the pack? My determination and wanting to see other people learn new things and implement those qualities, not only for "performance purposes" but , hopefully as an everyday part of their lives. If there is something I can teach an artist or performer at a rehearsal and it's a quality that they can use as a life lesson, then I really feel like I have "done my job". To me, it's not only about getting an artist, dancer or anyone I work with to "do as I say" but, for them to possibly learn something new about themselves that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.   

Things that influence and motivate me? My mother, film-making, music, people that are using their fame and success to better the world (i.e. Angelina Jolie, Bono, etc.). Seeing my goal and even though I may not know how I will accomplish that goal. Just having the inner knowledge that I have all the strength and courage I need to go after it no matter how far fetched it may seem at the time.

Mac or PC and why? Mac because it's all I've ever used and I love their programs. Especially iMovie. They have a really clever ad campaign as well. I'm already planning on getting the new iPhone.

By Led Black

Today Dominicans, it is your day. On February 27th, 1844 a group of Dominican rebels led by Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, Ramón Mella and inspired by Juan Pablo Duarte seized the Ozama fortress in Santo Domingo and declared their independence from Haitian rule.  It is that spirit of resiliency, audacity and sheer determination that we celebrate on this day. It is these very same qualities that are crucial components of our national character. My mother, like many other Dominicans of that era, came to this country with nothing but hopes, dreams and an unshakable will to better the lives of their children. We have a responsibility to continue striving for excellence to ensure that our ancestor’s struggle wasn’t in vain.  Palante, Siempre Palante! 

Latina  Poets Festival 2007 will feature:
La Bruja, Mariposa Fernandez, Patty Dukes, Sandra Maria Esteves, Linda Nieves Powell, Dr. Myrna Nieves and Prisonera

Special appearances by:
Carmen D. Lucca, Rhina Valentin, Carmen Valle, Lourdes Vasquez Miriam Cruz and Jazmin Caratini

Produced and Directed by:
Miriam Colon Valle and Jack Landron

Literary Advisor:
Soledad Romero

THE PUERTO RICAN TRAVELING THEATRE
304 West 47th street
New York, NY

For tickets:
Admission General $20
Students and senior $15
Group sales are available

Telecharge.com or call (212) 239-6200
PRTT Box office (212)265-1086

For show times and additional info visit: www.echtheit.com

SOA group show that will exhibit the works of some of SOArtist(s): M.Tony Peralta, Mario Pena, Tony Philippou, Edward Ubiera, TOOFLY, Chris Partelow, D-Pi and Joe Buck.

Musical live performances from 9pm-12am by: Adrian Bryant, Tinseadu, Ihsan and Ahmad

Location:
SPUTNIK
262 Taaffe Place(btwn Dekalb and Willoughby)
Brooklyn, NY
(Take the G train to Classon Ave.)
7pm-12am
$7 cover

By Led Black

American exceptional-ism is the notion that the United States, by the virtue of its institutions, history and national credo, is somehow superior to all other nations. American exceptional-ism holds that there are certain things that America just doesn’t engage in.  Torture, for example, is considered a despicable tactic that is a fixture of third world regimes and former Soviet gulags but not the US.  According to the narrative, the United States is too wholesome and moral to undertake such barbarism.  The sadistic and disturbing pictures that made their way out of the Abu Ghraib prison shocked the world and revealed the truth.  Abu Ghraib was torture central under Saddam and remained so after the Saddam regime was toppled and America took over.  Ghosts of Abu Ghraib is a searing documentary that tackles that sordid episode head on.  Filmmaker Rory Kennedy pulls no punches and delves deep into that tragic affair interviewing some of the Iraqi victims as well as their American torturers.  Far from being an aberration or the work of a few bad apples, sexual humiliation and torture were systemic and encouraged by the highest levels of government.  The Bush administration with its disdain for international laws created an environment that was conducive to the committing of such atrocities.  I guess you can call it American exceptional-ism run amok.

For more visit: www.hbo.com

By Led Black

Ding, ding – ding!  It’s official, Hillary and Obama got beef.  This is just the beginning of what is shaping up to be a political clash of the titans.  Somebody might end up getting hurt.  This will be Jay-Z vs. Nas writ large.  It all started with this Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times yesterday.  In said column, David Geffen – Multi-Media Mogul, who is the finance campaign chair for the Obama candidacy, made it his business to go at the Clintons with a vengeance.  In keeping with the whole celebrity couple thing, the Clinton duo will now be referred to as Billary.  I just coined that phrase - if you want to use it please make sure I’m cited for it.  These are just some of the choice words he had for Hillary and Bill Clinton.

“Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don’t think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is — and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? — can bring the country together."

“Obama is inspirational, and he’s not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. Americans are dying every day in Iraq.”...“It’s not a very big thing to say, ‘I made a mistake’ on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can’t," Mr. Geffen says.

The beef between David Geffen and Bill Clinton stemmed from the fact that Bill Clinton gave a Presidential Pardon to Marc Rich in 2000 but refused Mr. Geffen’s request to grant the same clemency to Leonard Peltier, who is something akin to the Nelson Mandela of the Native American movement. 

David Geffen expounds: “Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?”

“Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in. Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”

The Clinton campaign folks who are no slouches themselves struck back immediately, this is what they had to say. 

"While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband.

"If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money."

Say what.  While I agree that Dave Geffen certainly kept it real with his scathing remarks and might have gone a bit too far so early in the game but for Hillary’s camp to ask Obama to give back the loot is a complete come-mierda (translation: shit-eater) move since David Geffen raised big money, 18 million to be exact, for them back in the day.  Not to be undone, Obama’s communications director Robert Gibbs blasted back with this.

“We aren’t going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when he was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom. It is also ironic that Senator Clinton lavished praise on Monday and is fully willing to accept today the support of South Carolina State Sen. Robert Ford, who said if Barack Obama were to win the nomination, he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party because he's black."

That has got to hurt.  Robert Gibbs exposed the Clinton folk’s hypocrisy on two levels.  One for hating and the other for praising and taking money from State Sen. Robert Ford, an idiot who espouses such racially-tinged nonsense.  The fact that Barack Obama is Black won’t drag down the rest of the Democratic Party but the Democrat’s uncanny ability to shoot themselves in the foot surely will.  Round 1 goes to Obama for somehow remaining above the fray and not letting any of the punches stick but you got to admit that the Clinton camp is not playing and has no compunctions about hitting below the belt.  Stay tuned.  This is about to get bloody.

--

Correction | 02.24.07: Dave Geffen is not the Finance Chair for the Barack Obama campaign. That was how he was characterized by the Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson. Dave Geffen has no official role in the Obama campaign beyond co-sponsoring the star-studded Hollywood fundraising event this past week, which raised nearly 2 million dollars. 
The actual National Finance Chair is none other than Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker whose family founded the Hyatt Hotel chain.

As the cliche goes, “better late than never.” B & O is the latest company to jump onto the wireless bluetooth earpiece fray with their “Earset 2.” Fortunately for them, there’s much room for improvement in this sector of the wireless market.

The look is very minimalist in a brushed aluminum and black kind of way, but this ear piece is hardly inconspicuous. The fact still remains that most wireless users would sacrifice size for call quality and comfort. We haven’t personally tested the Earset 2, but with a background noise canceling feature and it weighing in at .8 ounces, doesn’t hurt its prospects. The reviews have been decent thus far encompassing everything from consumers who love the sound quality and comfort, to those that hate the design and the fact that you can only wear it one ear (you must purchase either a left or a right version).

We’re pretty confident that Bang & Olufsen wouldn’t put out this headset if it didn’t meet their high quality standards. But, at $350 a pop and a return policy that differs from store to store (as they’re all independently owned), just make sure that you try it out at the store and ask about that policy before you plunk down those hard earned Benji’s.

By Led Black

The 2008 Presidential election will be one of the most important elections in American history.  The stakes are tremendously high; the Iraq War rages on and could intensify and envelope the region in an even more lethal conflict that has the potential to send shock waves through the global economy.  On the domestic front, the middle class is under attack and demagogic right-wingers continue to scapegoat immigrants as the scourge of American values and culture.  Americans of all stripes, persuasions and political affiliations are looking for answers.  The Democratic Party is uniquely situated to satisfy those concerns if it only could get its head out of its ass and rise to the occasion.  Only time will tell.  The race is on.   

Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson
Bill Richardson is the first Mexican-American to run for President.  He is also the first Mexican-American that I know of to be named Bill Richardson.  Confusing Anglo name notwithstanding, Bill Richardson is a serious candidate with serious credentials.  He has been a Congressman, the US Ambassador to the United Nations as well as the US Secretary of Energy among many other important positions.  Not to mention that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times. www.richardsonforpresident.com

US Senator Joseph Biden (Delaware)
Even before Joe Biden made his stupid and racially insensitive remarks about Barack Obama referring to him as clean and articulate (duh), I didn’t really like him.  He has considerable experience and expertise but he comes off as a pushy and annoying used car salesman.  He is too much the dirt bag politician for my taste; I feel an urgent need to bathe after watching him speak on TV. www.joebiden.com

Former US Senator John Edwards 
(North Carolina)
John Edwards is the David to Hillary Clinton’s Goliath.  That being the case, Mr. Edwards is staking out a position for himself as an unabashed populist.  He has called for a complete withdrawal from Iraq within 12 to 18 months and has repudiated his 2002 vote to authorize the war.  His ambitious proposal for Universal health-care is also a step in the right direction.  It remains to be seen whether his appeals to the average American will be a match for Hillary’s profoundly deep campaign coffers. www.johnedwards.com

US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
The ice queen cometh!  For many political pundits, Hillary Clinton is a shoe-in for the Democratic nomination and some would even argue the Presidency.  It is no secret that she is the preferred candidate of the Democratic leadership.  The issue I have with Hillary is that she is always seems to be triangulating.  Every utterance, statement and gesture reeks of it being contrived and focus group tested.  She also hasn’t apologized for voting for the Iraq War resolution as John Edwards has done.  Needless to say, if it comes down to a contest between Hillary Clinton and any of the Republican candidates, I would have to vote for Hillary. www.hillaryclinton.com

US Senator Barack Obama (Illinois)
You would think with a last name that rhymes with Osama, Hussein as a middle name and the fact that Barack Obama is Black, that this man would not have a chance in hell of being president.  On the contrary, Barack Obama is a serious contender who has completely altered the political landscape.  He is a bonafide star that oozes charisma, authenticity and integrity. His detractors have used his limited political experience to paint him as a novice but at least he had the wisdom to know that the Iraq War was a mistake in 2002 before he became a Senator.  Barack Obama has electrified the Democratic base like no one since JFK.  With that said, the questions becomes, is America ready for a Black President? www.barackobama.com

By Led Black

The Right Wing crazies are up in arms over Bank of America’s latest pilot program to provide secured credit cards to Spanish speaking immigrants who might not have social security cards.  This is what favorite racist nut-job, Representative Tom Tancredo, had to say, "I hope the administration will shut down this reckless and illegal program before Bank of America extends a line of credit to a potential terrorist".  What him and his despicable ilk are attempting to do is nothing less than to paint all immigrants, illegal or otherwise, as dangerous subversives looking to destroy the American way of life.  Nothing could be further from the truth but the anti-immigrant movement is gaining traction across the country as immigrants are being made out to be the scapegoats on everything from the attack on the middle class to terrorism.  Bank of America’s forward-thinking move makes perfect fiscal sense and is neither illegal nor immoral.  It is a smart business decision that can help to position the financial institution as the bank of a New America, an America that is diverse, increasingly bi-lingual and much more inclusive.